Pay it forward this November with an attitude of gratitude

Do you have a November tradition about showing thanks? When the kids were younger, we loved to make a Thankful tree and put leaves all over it listing the things we were thankful for. That tradition kind of slipped away as the family got busy, but I have a new tradition to try — one that will hopefully start a pay it forward chain in our community.

“You’ve Been Thanked” Gratitude Activity

I’ve been thinking about the Halloween idea of “You’ve been boo’ed,” and the Easter idea of “You’ve been egged,” and trying to find a way to make that work for Thanksgiving. I came up with an idea that I hope will spread an attitude of gratitude and cheer up hearts this November.

“You’ve been turkey-ed” doesn’t really work, so how about, “You’ve been thanked?” My idea is for people to write kind thank you notes to friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, teachers, the mailman — whoever. Included with each thank you note would be a little card encouraging people to pay it forward and thank someone else.

What do you think? Will the gratitude chain catch on? I hope so. The idea came to me in the middle of the night, so it was either inspired or the result of a really tired brain.

The Pay it Forward Challenge

So, here’s the challenge:

Download the printable by clicking on the download image at the end of this list.

Print and cut out challenge cards – Note that the two cards on the bottom are worded a little bit more simply than the cards on the top, so they might be more suited to children.

Write some thank you notes! Let everyone know how grateful you are for them and what talents you have noticed in them.

Attach your note card with a challenge card and mail your notes, stick them to neighbor’s doors, put them on your co-workers’ chairs — whatever works. If you’d like, you can put an extra blank card in for them to use, but instructions to download more cards are included on the challenge card.

Both challenge cards start with a quote:

It’s not happy people who are thankful, it’s thankful people who are happy.

or

Happiness grows when you give it away.

and end with the following challenge:

We’re all linked together by by the small acts of service we perform every day. I’m sending you a note as part of a gratitude chain. Please help me flood mailboxes and doorsteps with kind words by writing notes to others to brighten their day.

That’s it. Will you take the challenge? I’m hoping it will be a great start for focusing on gratitude this month.

Thanks for stopping by today. Be sure to stick around and browse some other ideas for Fall.

The images below are linked to posts, so click on them to pay a visit.

This is a great idea! I’ve been trying to get my son to write letters to my grandma and he’s been making little comics with little writing in it. (we’re supposed to practice our writing when we do this) This would be great to get him to write a few, really good sentences.